The Yankees won Thursday's rubber match against the Cleveland Guardians by a final score of 6-0.

Here are the key takeaways…

-Thursday afternoon’s game was a great example of how teams are damned if they do and damned if they don’t pitch to Aaron Judge.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Judge put the Yankees on the board, mashing his 48th home run of the season, an opposite-field shot off of Guardians starter Gavin Williams.

In the fifth, Cleveland elected to intentionally walk Judge, and it led to four more runs coming across to score. Judge was given a free pass to load the bases for Austin Wells, who delivered with a sac fly to center. Then came the big blow, as Giancarlo Stanton golfed a three-run homer to center to break the game open at 5-0.

-It was a weird outing for Gerrit Cole. On one hand, he allowed just one hit and did not give up a run over 6.0 innings of work. But on the other, he walked five Cleveland hitters and struck out just two. Cole lowered his season ERA to 3.72, but his command was certainly an issue. The one hit Cole allowed was a leadoff single to Steven Kwan in the first inning, and the righty gave up nothing after that.

-Following Cole's solid 6.0 innings, the Yankees bullpen did a bang-up job. Tim Hill gave Aaron Boone four outs, Luke Weaver got a pair of outs, and Michael Tonkin closed things out in the ninth, finishing off the one-hitter.

-Anthony Volpe has had an up-and-down year at the plate, but he reached base three times on Thursday with a hit and two walks. After hitting a double in the eighth, Volpe stole third and scored on a Ben Rice sac fly.

Who was the game MVP?

Stanton broke the game wide open with his 21st home run of the season.

Here are the key takeaways…

Who was the game MVP?

Highlights

Popular in the Community